(via Clarissa's House Of Cats)
Russia’s bears have traditionally been a national symbol of pride and potency, mythologized in fairy tales and depicted in advertisements and on the flag of Russia’s top political party. They are as hallowed in Russia as the bald eagle is in the United States.Today, however, Russia’s bears are on the attack.
Some thirty gigantic and ravenously hungry Kamchatka brown bears have already killed and eaten two men at a platinum mine in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka region and appear to be hunting for more. People in the region have been forced to cower in their homes waiting for hunters to dispose of the animals, which can stand 10 feet tall and weigh up to 1,500 pounds.
The bears are generally peaceful and feed on salmon in Kamchatka's rivers. Environmentalists argue that widespread poaching has caused a fish shortage, prompting the starving bears to become aggressive as they seek out food close to human settlements.
Source: New York Times
Meet Princess Chunk, a 44-pound hunk of feline flesh, a cat so big that she needs a bathtub for a litter box.Volunteers at the Camden County Animal Shelter in New Jersey are trying to find a new home for the corpulent kitty - a really big home.
Officials at the shelter say they received the cat Saturday from Animal Control after she was found wandering around outdoors with no ID tags.
As hard as it is to fathom, volunteers think her owner might have lost her, which is as difficult a possibility to imagine as, well, as a 44-pound cat.
"I mean, how do you lose a 44-pound cat?" said shelter volunteer Deborah Wright.
Source: New York Post
Saudi Arabia's religious police have announced a ban on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said on Wednesday.Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa, told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat daily that the commission has started enforcing an old religious edict.
The reason behind reinforcing the edict now was a rising fashion among some men using pets in public "to make passes on women and disturb families," he said, without giving more details.
The 5,000-strong religious police oversees the adherence to Wahabism -- a strict version of Sunni Islam, which also forces women to cover from head to toe when in public, and bans them from driving.
Graphic: Cartoon Stock
Source: AFP
Captured on camera as they swim in a lake, drag pieces of wood to make their dens and play with one another, these are the first beavers to be born in Britain in 400 years.The enchanting scene is a heartwarming sight for animal lovers as the species was previously extinct in Britain.
The 12 baby beaver ‘kits’ – all from the same mother – were born at the 550-acre Lower Mill Estate near Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Jeremy Paxton, owner of the estate, brought three pairs of beavers – named Tony and Cherie, Gordon and Sarah and John and Pauline – from Bavaria in 2005.
He has spent almost £1million on the project.
He said: ‘I have always wanted to bring an extinct indigenous species back to Britain.
Source: The Daily Mail
An ongoing row over a sculpture of a crucified frog on show in a Bolzano, Italy, museum gained momentum when a Catholic politician reported the work to the police for public obscenity.The sculpture, which depicts a warty, pop-eyed amphibian nailed to a cross with a frothing mug of beer in one hand and an egg in the other, has been at the center of furious polemics ever since it went on display in May.
But the row has heated up after Pope Benedict XVI's arrival in the nearby town of Bressanone for his summer holiday.
Right-wing separatist party the Union for South Tyrol said Wednesday it had collected 10,000 signatures supporting the removal of the work, while the president of Trentino-Alto Adige regional council, Franz Pahl, entered his eighth day of a hunger strike in protest over the frog.
Local bishop Wilhelm Egger - a strong critic of the work from the start - said on Tuesday that he had discussed the sculpture with the pope, although he would not comment on the pontiff's views on the matter. "The crucified frog has shocked many visitors to the Museion and has hurt their religious feelings," Egger said.
Source:ANSA.it
A new population of wrinkly-faced, bamboo-eating lemurs has been found in a swampy region of east-central Madagascar—more than 240 miles from the other only known group of the primates, listed as critically endangered by the World Conservation Union.Scientists suspect that 30 to 40 of the lemurs—known for cracking open giant bamboo with their powerful jaws—live in the wetland, where bamboo is still their main staple.
The new group joins another population of about a hundred animals in the island's northern bamboo forests, which are under threat from illegal logging and habitat destruction, according to Conservation International.
Source: National Geographic
These two-week-old triplet lemurs are the star attraction at Folly Farm, in Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire.The gorgeous threesome are the second set of triplets born to resident lemur Kirindy, who is said to have bonded marvellously with her litter.
Source: The Sun
(via Zooillogix)
Photo: Darren Staples / Reuters
Six adorable white lion cubs – born to two different mothers – help form the world’s largest pride of this striking species in captivity. The cubs take the number of white lions at West Midland Safari Park in Worcestershire to 19.
The park’s white lion collection has grown from four animals who were introduced in 2004.
The lions are not albino but are a rare mutation of lion found in a 200-square-mile area called Timbavati, in South Africa’s bush country.
According to African folklore, once every hundred years, magical white lions will be born bringing joy to those who witness them.
Source: Mail online
The park’s white lion collection has grown from four animals who were introduced in 2004.The lions are not albino but are a rare mutation of lion found in a 200-square-mile area called Timbavati, in South Africa’s bush country.
According to African folklore, once every hundred years, magical white lions will be born bringing joy to those who witness them.
Source: Mail online
This baby's mother, the Oregon Zoo's adult Colobus, Molly, was chosen as the 2008 mother of the year!
Watch the video
According to researcher Gay Bradshaw, "There are things about elephants that seem so similar to us. Their family life, their emotional life, the fact that they grieve. They stand out from other animals." Elephants are able to recognize themselves in a mirror, a trait shared with humans, apes and dolphins.Field scientists have studied the special bonds of elephant herds for decades. Family members mourn their dead, even gently caressing the jawbones of their ancestors during grieving rituals.
"I think the real shock right now, in terms of the mirror self-recognition tests and their intelligence and their emotions is, they're like us. It's not that they're way up there. It's that they're on level footing with us," said Bradshaw.
But even as science holds a mirror to our similarities, in recent years researchers have observed a violent change in elephant-human relations after decades of peaceful coexistence.
"Humans are regarded as the enemy. You must never, ever be cruel to an elephant because they have an amazing memory. They will remember that for life. And they bear grudges," said Daphne Sheldrick, a renowned wild elephant expert and director of The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.
Creatures who seem to share the best of what makes us human are now revealing they are also capable of the worst.
Source: ABC News
Animals can and do get sunburned!Animals with very little hair covering, light-colored animals, newly shorn sheep and other animals that are clipped can suffer from sunburn and the parts of animals that normally lack hair cover can be sunburned. The problem can be worsened because animals may be exposed to certain substances from their feed, medications such as antibiotics, and spores of certain molds, that can photo-sensitize them, making them more likely to burn; extreme sunburn and sometimes large open skin wounds can result.
Human sunscreens are not formulated nor are the prepared to be compatible with skin of pets.
Epi-Pet FDA Tested Sun Protector Sunscreen for Dogs and Horses blocks damaging UVA and UVB rays that cause cancer in the skin.
The Sun Protector spray is light and does not leave a thick oily residue on the skin and hair coat of the pet. It also leaves a pleasant vanilla fragrance. The can is designed with a unique bag on valve spray system which quietly releases a constant spray from any direction (even upside down) when pressed down. This spray system is environmentally safe since it releases no ozone depleting CFC's into the atmosphere.
$18.95 at VKRPets.com
Road Hound pet carrier
For motorcycles, scooters, ATVs and bicycles. These trendy and durable pet crates are the perfect way to travel in comfort and style - for both you and your dog. Enjoy the great outdoors - and take your pet with you.
Priced from $299.00 to $399.00 at Moto-Pets Accessories, Inc.
(via Inventor's Spot)